We are dividinig up 30 acres of heavy wooded property into lots for homes each approx. 200' by 600'. All the lots are bounded by a State Road on the south and a bayou on the north. Someone from the area mentioned an old cemetery on the property after looking for a while we found it. Dates on the head stones are from 1790 to 1830 and is about 30' by 40' in size and about 300' from the road. It appears no one has visited it in many years.
We set the lots so the edge of the cemetery is close to a side lot line. I am showing the cemetery and I want to show an easement to it. My thouhgts are to so an easement along the lot line for the 300' then turn right at 90 degrees for 30' to the cemetery corner then 6' all around the cemetery.
So far I have come up with "6' wide pedestrian ingress/egress easement for cemetery"
The cemetery board for the state doesn't have any regulations to follow except to provide an access, so any thoughts on the size or wording?
We had one similar to that years ago, and we settled on a 10' walking easement.
Cemeteries are a weird duck and there is very obtuse and obscure law that protects them. I'd say that EACH cemetery, not just state, is specific. Is it family or was it a community, or was it a private, or was it just the highest point that wouldn't flood normally?
But back that far, I'd say that the cemetery is where the cemetery is and an easement to it is very good thinking.
Be careful with determining the size of unplatted cemeteries. The headstones you see above ground can only be a fraction of what actually lies below the surface.
time to recommend the owner call an archeologist to determine the limits
there is a curb all around graves
Sticking out of the curb in a few places is pieces of a wrought iron fence. It appears to be a family cemetery, because of the small size and is located on high ground.
We had a big cemetery with a nice stone and wrought iron fence around it. When they redid the paved alley on the other side of the fence, they found tell-tale signs of burial under the alley (coffin sized dirt discoloration). Apparently some of the guests of the cemetery were trying to escape or just didn't respect the limits of the fence.
Wonder what kind of repercussions the developer and/or surveyor have if they find burial sites in someone's yard or under proposed house?
I agre with Snoop that an archeologist should be consulted.
Since you stated that it is on 'high ground', I have found old cemeteries of early setellers that were located on old Indian burial mounds. This might be the case here.
I am thinking of one in Des Allemands along the dormant remains of the Old Spanish Trail for an exampleand one here in St.Tammany.
I agree with Jerry aslo.
In old cemeteries there were graves on the immediate outside of a family cemetery.
Look for depression in the ground and you may want to probe.
These graves would have been the slaves if the family were slave owners. They would have been unmarked or marked by a wooden memorial
One of my best friends is a professor of Sociology and has done research on customs, particularly in the south. One of the things he discovered was that it was common for slaves to buried outside the fenced in area of the family cemetery plot. If that cemetery was in the southern US, it is quite possible that the grave discovered outside the fence was such a grave.
Lamon-
Maybe
Cheers
Derek
Here is a subdivision where they used the main entrance as a way to get to the old family cemetarty (Elizabeth Drive) as the road splits as it goes around the cemetary. I find it a rather tacky way to handle it but nonetheless that is how they did it.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.488711,-90.140477&z=18&t=h&hl=en
That is a very good point.
I remember when they were widening Canal Blvd., in NOLA, and turned up many unmarked graves.
I also agree with Snoop. Let someone else take the liability. Or at least tell the owner in writing that you recommend he do so.
Having said that, I often think about the thousands of people, mostly native people and slaves that have lived and died here without a visible above ground trace. I know I must have produced many surveys on top of graves.
"time to recommend the owner call an archeologist to determine the limits"
:good: